Earth Island News

UniversitÁrea Protegida

UniversitÁrea Protegida (UÁP) is completing its second year supporting Nicaraguan university
students doing ecological and social research in rural communities
throughout the country. Many lessons have been learned since the UÁP
concept was created three years ago by a group of young idealists
sitting in a coconut grove in the community of Padre Ramos. We
celebrate our successes, and reflect on our difficulties, in search of
long-term solutions to the environmental challenges facing rural
communities in Nicaragua.

Environmental conservation in
Nicaragua has a short history compared to the movement in most
“developed” countries. Nicaragua’s first three protected areas were
created in 1979, after the Sandinista revolution ousted the Somoza
dictatorship. By 1984, 34 reserves had been created, and currently, 18
percent of Nicaragua’s land is under some sort of environmental
protection status – on paper, at least.

Olin CohanThree members of UÁP-sponsored youth group work on model farm project in thecommunity of Padre Ramos

Work
in Nicaragua’s protected areas is key to the expansion of the movement.
Environmental consciousness is contagious, and UÁP’s hope is that the
people living within Nicaraguan natural reserves will begin to see that
the health of their air, water, plants, and animals depends on
communities outside the reserves.

As globalization tightens its
grasp on Earth’s natural resources, it becomes more evident that the
international environmental conservation movement must be intimately
linked to the social justice movement for either to succeed. The story
of Eddy Maradiaga is a quintessential example of how this link can
benefit rural communities and natural resources in areas of extreme
poverty.

Maradiaga was born and raised in Padre Ramos, a fishing
village in northwestern Nicaragua, two hours by bus from the nearest
city of Chinandega. His father is a fisherman; thus, by the rules of
rural life, so is he. He grew up taking dangerous trips by small boat
in the open ocean to fish for snapper, tuna, sea bass, shark, stingray,
turtles, and any other animal that could feed his family. He completed
sixth grade in 1994, and his studies ended there because his value to
his family as a fisherman was greater than as a student. In this
respect, his situation was much the same as that of most boys in Padre
Ramos.

The concepts of environmental conservation, ecological
research, and endangered species didn’t exist for Maradiaga until 1999,
when he turned 18. That’s when his community was designated part of a
natural reserve and groups of biologists and ecologists started showing
up to investigate plants and animals in the area. This sparked
Maradiaga’s interest in the preservation of his surroundings.

He
decided to go back to school, and paid for his own studies in
Chinandega with his modest earnings as a fisherman. He finished high
school in 2004, but didn’t want to stop there. In 2005, with the
support of UÁP, Maradiaga became the first person from his community to
begin university studies. He is now finishing his first year studying
sustainable tourism. He considers himself a social advocate and an
environmentalist, a rarity in a community where the majority of people
work long hours in dangerous conditions and barely sustain their modest
livelihoods. Maradiaga still works as a fisherman to help support his
family, but he’s teaching his fellow fishermen to use more
environmentally sustainable methods, and to participate in his
community’s turtle conservation efforts.

When UÁP intern Leo Maxam arrived from UC Santa Cruz to work with UÁP, he and Maradiaga collaborated on a socioeconomic
study of the fishing industry in Padre Ramos. The concept came from
Maradiaga, who recognizes that the current unbalanced economic system
forces rural fishermen to over-exploit natural resources to make ends
meet while international fish exporters get richer. As a leader in his
community, Maradiaga is working with Maxam to organize the fishermen
for social justice, which they are confident will lead to future
environmental benefits.

Olin CohanMaradiaga (standing, right) and his youth group in Padre Ramoson a trip in the esutuary during a youth group exchange activity with a group form Leon

Maradiaga
has also been working with a youth group from his community, covering a
variety of social and environmental topics in weekly meetings. With
social work students supported by UÁP, he created a curriculum of
classes and activities for the group, and helps them with their high
school studies. He has also organized the group to work and benefit
from a model farm project in the community along with UÁP’s
agro-ecology thesis students. His goal is to complete his university
degree, and, more importantly, to motivate the youth of his community.
He says that if those youth continue on their current path, in 10 years
Padre Ramos will be a community full of college graduates – a community
taking action to improve its quality of life and the health of the
natural resources on which residents’ lives depend.

In November, Maradiaga participated in a UÁP meeting with La Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua (UNAN) Leon, to renew work agreements and coordinate work with
professors. He met with the directors of the various departments with
which UÁP is working, UNAN’s vice dean, UÁP’s technical team, and
representatives of UÁP-supported student groups from the last two
years. “Four years ago, I was a fisherman with a grade-school level
education,” Maradiaga said with a smile. “Today I am in a meeting with
the vice dean of the university, deciding the future of the UÁP
program.”

Take action: Sponsor a UÁP future leader. For $20 a month,you can help Maradiaga and other students like him continuetheir studies and particpate in social and envirnmental activi-ties in their communities. For information, visit the UÁP Web page at www.eii.org/uap

UÁP
supports future leaders like Maradiaga, who in turn share their
experiences and knowledge with youth from their communities.
Environmental conservation is getting more support in Padre Ramos,
because people like Maradiaga are passionate about spreading
consciousness. He is at the top of his class at the university and will
influence his community’s future decisions regarding sustainability. He
inspires those around him, and he inspires UÁP to continue offering him
and his youth group the support they need to make a difference.